Here in the Midwestern US, pocket knifes are a way of life -- heck, I have my Swiss Army knife with me even as we speak, and I used to carry it all the time when doing the ranger thing. You will also see some fellows wearing larger Buck knifes (a kind of folding knife) in small pouches on their belt.

I can't say I've ever had a real problem with my sgain dhu; I was only asked to remove it one time, and that was at the state capitol building in Jefferson City in 2000 at the Tartan Day celebrations, but the capitol gendarmes were very friendly & did respect the reason why we were carrying them.

The Sikhs are running into similar problems, as members of the Kalhsa (sic?), an order of the Sikh religion, are required to carry a small dagger under their shirt for ceremonial reasons (to remind them to fight for social justice and freedom) -- a friend of mine who is a Sikh was talking about the growing number of incidents after 9/11.

Cheers,

T.